The debate as to whether the upcoming Resident Evil 5 contains racist imagery has raged ever since Capcom released a controversial trailer for the game at E3 2007.

Eurogamer, which has a detailed hands-on preview of RE5, reports that there is additional room for concern over images in the retail version:

There's also the spectre of the old racism debate, hovering the background. That debate is only going to get louder and more urgent once the game is released...

One of the first things you see... is a gang of African men brutally beating something in a sack. Animal or human, it's never revealed, but these... are ordinary Africans... Since the Majini are not undead corpses... it makes the line between the infected monsters and African civilians uncomfortably vague. Where Africans are concerned, the game seems to be suggesting, bloodthirsty savagery just comes with the territory...

Later on, there's a cut-scene of a white blonde woman being dragged off, screaming, by black men... If this has any relevance to the story it's not apparent in the first three chapters, and it plays so blatantly into the old clichés of the dangerous "dark continent" and the primitive lust of its inhabitants that you'd swear the game was written in the 1920s...

All it will take is for one mainstream media outlet to show the heroic Chris Redfield stamping on the face of a black woman, splattering her skull, and the controversy over Manhunt 2 will seem quaint by comparison. If we're going to accept this sort of imagery in games then questions are going be asked, these questions will have merit, and we're going to need a more convincing answer than "lol it's just a game."

There are no revenue generating ads whatsoever on the sit, meaning Dennis gets no money from ads, and those ads that are seen are for non profit organizations, not coporations, meaning no revenue is being generated.

You acuse GP of "crafting" a sensationalist article to generate hits and revenu.

Then when confronted by the fact that there is no revenu generated by this site you give some vage anser about how they still capitalize off of it without revenu.

How might I ask would the be capitalizing off of it?

You also ignore the fact that GP is reporting on someone elses article prciesly because there is controversy. This site is a place for people to read about and discuss controversy surounding games as well as political issues surounding games.

I think the thing to remember here is that in America as a black person (or any minority really) you are constantly accosted (at least culturally) by the notion that white being normal and non-white being abnormal, for whatever reason. For a lot of American history blacks have been labels idiotic and violent and unable to control their sexual urges. Most blacks don't want to be regarded in that way, and want to leave behind the bigotry that has affect them for so long. To have this image brought up again and again is just throwing salt into the wound at this point.

As an African American I am offended by these images, and I don't want to support them in any way. It's hurtful to think what me and my family have had to go through still in today's world just because of the ugly birthmark of slavery that I didn't choose to have. We keep on being reminded of how "inferior" many people think of us because we are black. When I play a video game, I don't want to think about that at all. I want to escape what I have to deal with in the everyday world. These racist images are not an escape, but a reminder of the history that follows me every second of every day.

Censorship shouldn't happen, but Capcom should man up and admitted that their game has images that many people consider offensive. And Capcom needs to be aware that when releasing a game to an American audience, there are certain things that we are culturally sensitive about.

It depends a lot where you are from and what you are used to. I grew up in an area almost exactly 50/50. I'm white and my godmother is black. I moved away from that area to a big city to go to college. I've had people who are fresh from Africa tell me that where they were from, people treated eachother like brothers, but here people who were the same color as him treated him worse then those who were other races. He said I was the closest thing he had seen because I treated everyone like a brother as well, regardless of race.

I didn't even notice it for years, but black ISN'T a minority here. It is a majority, white is second, hispanic, then asian. I came across the info in a census report. I work in a tech field. My manager is black, and out of my group of about 15, there is only one other white person. I don't have a problem with it because I KNOW these people. Some of them are great, there are a few lazy ones, but that is a personal observation, not something judged by the color of their skin (and the other white guy is kind of a jerk :-P)

Basically, a lot of time racism is what you bring to the table. A scene may be offensive to someone if they see it in that light, but not to someone who doesn't make a distinction between people. Personally, I think I'll wait for a Wii port (hey, they did it with RE4 and Dead Rising) and then make my OWN descisions, based on the game, not someone elses interpretation of the game. And remember, the main character is white, but the programmers weren't. The company isn't. And we don't know the situation or what is happening. People originally didn't see what was up with the people in RE4, they were technically zombies, but they were infected. Until we see what is up, then I won't make any statements about what this game is or isn't.

If someone is offended by this game, then it is their perogative not to support it. However, just because you are offended by the imagery, I don't think the company holds any responsability to appoligize for it unless they did it specifically to offend. Just knowing that it would offend someone doesn't mean they did it to offend. They made the choice to continue with it after they knew it was offensive to some, but I don't count that the same. How you count it is up to you.

I understand that Capcom doesn't necessarily need to apologize for the images they put in the game, but I find it quite odd that a company that has a U.S. branch wouldn't be sensitive to the cultural stigma that affects everyone in this country. Capcom has Americans working for them, helping to market and produce this game. Why did none of those people speak up and say "you may want to be careful of certain images if you do not wish to be perceived as racist."

It shows an ignorance to the history that this country has, and how this country has reacted to it. That's horrible marketing, on top of being insensitive to a rich culture. If the game was going to spark some intelligent debate within the game about race relations, than this wouldn't be such a misstep. But I don't see any evidence of that, and there should be by now with the release almost a month away.

It's nice that you were able to grow up in a place where race wasn't something that you had to think about, but a lot of people don't have that luxury, in the U.S. and many other places. Especially anyone who is a minority.

Starting from the top, not all Americans care about the PC racism you like to put out. Some of us have gotten over the past and decided to move on with our lives. Next up is "ignorance of the history that this country has". In saying that, you completely ignore the fact that we had a Civil Rights movement, and have completely ignored some of the most famous words of one of its most famous leaders. As others on this site have shown, the only real way to dig racism out of the "imagery" is to come in viewing the scene through racial lens. Third, you show ignorance of the general state of Africa. True, not all African nations are violent and horrible places to live, but it's pure stupidity to say that none of them are.

I can understand how one could see this as being racist. However, the game is not designed nor is it meant to be racists. Simply put, it another chapter in the resident evil series. When Resident Evil 4 came out, did people scream racist? No. Not to mention, this is set an Africa so of course there are going to be black people. Let's not forget that capcom did diversefy the eneimes in the game. In demo, I cleary saw people of different races, non of which where a majority, rather an equal number of people. Also, let me point out Sheva is black. Personally I appluad capcom for fiannlly putting some diversity in the games and would be kinda annoyed if they didn't.

Case in point, what your saying is understandable but isn't racism Aprinc. This is just a game, develpoed by people who aren't white at all (diverse number of people actually).

Dennis has been following this controversy since the beginning. Never has he done anything to fan the flames. He simply reports on what others are saying and lets us discuss it.

AS was already pointed out, Game Politics has no revenue generating ads. So the editorial content of this site is not influenced by the number of hits. Dennis Posts more stories that get less than 10 comments than he posts stories that get more than 100.

Game Politics owes no person or group of people an apology for reporting on this controversy.

If any one owes an apology, it would be you owing one to GamePolitics for your false accusations.

this game is not racist. If this is, how come other Resident Evil didn't have you killing black people. How come Resident Evil 4 didn't have any complaint from Spain or spanish-speaking country? IT WAS DONE BY JAPAN, DUMBASS??? NOT THE KKK, OR NEO-NAZI??? If you say RE5 is racist, then I guess Grand Theft Auto series is racist also. I guess also Mercenaries 2 was racist also (even Chavez of Venezuela complain about the game), so what about Postal, is that Racist? oh, so I guess that every World War 2 game is racist, right? I don't hear Germany or Japan bitching about the game being too racist. As a matter of fact Medal of Honor: Rising Sun got EA best hits in Japan. Also a Japanese AV Idol bought a english version of Call of Duty: World at War for her 360 (link: kotaku.com/5131652/this-japanese-adult-video-game-actress-knows-her-western-games) What about Call of Duty 4, is that racist? I don't hear any Russian or Arabs bitchin about it?

So quit saying that game is racist, all the people that say the game is racist is either a hypocrite, or paid by Jack Thompson just to fucking bash the game. No game is racist, if I do ever see a game that show racism, then I will never play it (If I do hear a game saying a racial slur, that's a turn off for me).

Everybody's a little bit racist. Everyone makes judgements (not big ones) based on the colour of someone's skin. Just like they make judgements based on someone's height or weight. It doesn't mean we go around commiting hate crimes. Seriously... relax... don't be so uptight.

I'm asian, if someone called me a "ch!nk" I wouldn't be offended at all because it says more about them than me. BUT I would become extremely offended if someone called me a racist.

*edit: okay... not everyone's a little bit racist... some are a LOT racist.

-------
Morality has always been in decline. As you get older, you notice it. When you were younger, you enjoyed it.

There was? I (and this shows exactly why this isn't a problem) wasn't paying any attention to different colors...i was just kind of focused on the enemies...more specifically the sharp and hurtful things they carry.

I think the article has a point, in that many people aren't going to care about the context of the violence. They're just going to see some images and automatically categorize them as racist. It may be a knee-jerk reaction, it may be born out of hyper-sensitivity to potential racism. But that won't change the results. People will see what they want to see.

And we, as gamers that who wish to rationally discuss this issue with those people, need to come up with something better than, "Dude, it's a zombie game, who cares about skin color?" It's actually ironic. In an attempt to make race not matter, race still matters.

"Where Africans are concerned, the game seems to be suggesting, bloodthirsty savagery just comes with the territory..."

What an idiot. I work at an intelligence agency with 5 native Africans (Kenya, South Africa, Ivory Coast, etc...) - and the absolute horror stories they tell about

I find it funny that the people calling the game racist whip out the "if we ignore reality of our history, and ignore the past atrocities committed against Africans, we can not expect to move on as a people". To them I say, "if we ignore the REALITY of what actually happens in Africa on a DAILY basis, we can't have an intelligent and meaningful discussion about that part of the world, and help it move forward".

Africa is a scary ass place to live - if you are white, black, Asian, Middle-eastern...etc... doesn't matter - its a savage part of the world.

If anything, this game was LIGHT on the violence from African civilians. Or need I remind anyone of the hundreds of examples from every single country on that continent, just in the last year.

But it doesn't matter - the fact that this game accurately uses a brutal and backward village for part of its plot isn't the problem. The fact that this game is SET in Africa, and thus naturally all zombies in this game would of course be BLACK... no... the real fact here is that a rediculous group of black activists are desperate for attention, and desperate for the world to still hate them so they have their own defining purpose.

The fact that colonialism is over, every western nation has apologized for it and taken steps to rectify their sins, and that most people in said nations harbor no overtly destructive racists opinions has invalidated them as a group of people. When what you grew up doing (fighting against racism) has largely been dealt with, those people do not know how to move on and move forward in a positive dirction.

Racism still exists, my friends, but with idiots like these looking to find it EVERYWHERE, they are in fact doing a dis-service toward fighting REAL racism, because they appear to be crying wolf over the most rediculously inaucuous thing, so nobody will care when they cry wolf over something legitimate.

Basically, we are all sick of being labeled racists when it is the last thing that is on any of our minds. Go fight the guys in hoods, not people fighting zombies.

JFC, STFU! It's a game, if you don't like what it portrays, don't play it, don't buy, don't support it if you think it's rascist!

As for me, I'm very color blind and don't really see the race issue. It's just a story to me.

Also, what might be offensive to you, may not be to me.

Personally, I lost intrest in Resident Evil after I forced myself to finish the very first one on my old Sega Saturn. The game was okay, learned how to kill a zombie with just a combat knife...stab, backstep, stab, backstep, stab....but the voice overs just killed me.

Praetorian

"I've been told I'm the resident skeptic, but I wouldn't believe that."

What would make this game *not* racist in your opinion? We change the setting to some field in the middle of nowhere? The antagonists are gray-colored and androgenous? They don't drag a white woman away, they peacefully walk with her into an alley? Do they then stand around and hold hands while singing kum-bay-ah as the credits roll?

You seem to think it is only racist if it is blacks being violent towards whites? What about blacks vs blacks? What about asians vs blacks? Where does it cease to be racist? Either you must think these are all racist, or none of them are. The idea that only one of these scenarios is somehow protected is possibly more racist than what you are trying to protect in the first place.

If you keep reminding people that something is racist and they can't do it, you just keep the racist meaning alive. If we don't forget about the possible racist meaning in this imagery, it will never go away. You are part of the problem, not the solution.

I think people need to see the difference between a racist image, and a image that they personally find disturbing.

To my mind, in order to call something racist.. there needs to be some intent. The developers would need to have intended the image to be seen in that light. I don't think they did, they were telling their story, of a place gone crazy and violent and dangerous because of the Virus. And lets be honest, Africa can already be a pretty brutal place, I defy anyone to claim otherwise.

But, to those of us in the western world who have grown up with these issues, some of the imagary is disturbing. Perhaps it will make people ask questions, and hopefully there will be answers. Perhaps it will make people think about Africa and the state it is in, and that would be good.

People should not be afraid of challanging and sometimes disturbing imagary in games, any more than they should be in books or movies. There should be things in all media areas that make us ask questions, not only about other people, but about ourselves.

And with Resident Evil 5, we should all be asking questions of our preconceptions and reactions.

"We never paid any heed to the ancient prophecies... Like fools we clung to the old hatreds, and fought as we had for generations"

"We never paid any heed to the ancient prophecies... Like fools we clung to the old hatreds, and fought as we had for generations"

Nice Warcraft 3 quote. ---I'm not under the affluence of incohol as some thinkle peep I am. I'm not half as thunk as you might drink. I fool so feelish I don't know who is me, and the drunker I stand here, the longer I get.

---I'm not under the affluence of incohol as some thinkle peep I am. I'm not half as thunk as you might drink. I fool so feelish I don't know who is me, and the drunker I stand here, the longer I get.

- America had the black slavery- Canada had the Chinese build the railroad (all way under paid, and many died)- Britain had taken power away from nations like India (I don't know much about British history, so I don't know the details, or accuracy)

Africa is living through their dark times right now, and it's even worse due to modern weapons.

In Africa, it understandable why it looks as savaged as it does. The rich are hugely rich, and the poor are hugely poor. You have to be a savage to even live, even at thet, it's hard. We contries invading others all the time, it's understandable why poor people hate outsiders more then they hate Hell.

As for RE5 make a game about it, it's just hard to defend, or go against it. I don't think the developers want to be the game racist, but it does invoke anger in the African American community.

But one thing I disagree with is how black looks said that it's going to train a new generation of black hating white kids.

That's a great argument for not banning Birth of a Nation and the anti-semitic stories from Lovecraft. It's not a great argument for defending new racist games being made. That being said, banning is wrong. This game shouldn't be banned, but it is a racist game.

You can have racism in videogames. Portrayed by way of a racist character of organisation, you can show racism exists. However, this doesn't portray racism, it IS racist.

So what the hell do you want? A game that takes place in Africa but portrays the inhabitants as white? I don't recall allegations of racism when Ashley was dragged off in RE4 and there certainly is a related stereotype about Hispanics. But no, I guess one racial stereotype is worse than another. The stereotype of the white guy being an automatic oppressor of Africans? If I wanted to be a dick I could say that's what this game looks like, but I like to think I'm better than that.

And oh by the way, if a racist guy writes a song about friggin' trees it's not "inherently racist".

Guess what, idiot? The game is not racist. The developers are Japanese and do not have our culturally ingrained protectionism of all things involving africans, and are thus not developing a racist game for the White man to kill africans.
The idea is KILLING ZOMBIES. I DON'T THINK THE ZOMBIES CARE THAT MUCH WHAT COLOR THEY ARE AND THEY WILL NOT SUE CHRIS REDFIELD IN A COURT OF LAW ACCUSING HIM OF HATE CRIMES.

Shout box

Infophile: @Matt: Apparently Dan Aykroyd actually is involved. We don't know how yet, though, but he's apparently going to be in the movie in some way.08/02/2015 - 4:17am

Mattsworkname: I still hold that not having the origonal cast invovled in any way hurts this movie, and unless the 4 actresses in the lead roles can some how measure up to the comic timing of the origonal cast, i just don't see it being a success08/02/2015 - 12:46am

Mattsworkname: Mecha: regardless of what you think of it, GB 2 was a finanical success and for it time did well with audiances ,even if it wasnt as popular as the first08/02/2015 - 12:45am

MechaTama31: I think they're better off trying to do something different, than trying to be exactly the same and having every little difference held up as a shortcoming. Uncanny valley.08/01/2015 - 11:57pm

MechaTama31: Having the original cast didn't do much for... that pink-slimed atrocity which we must never speak of.08/01/2015 - 11:56pm

Mattsworkname: Andrew: If the new ghostbusters bombs, I cant help but feel it'll be cause it removed the origonal cast and changed the formula to much08/01/2015 - 8:31pm

Andrew Eisen: Not the best look but that appears to be a PKE meter hanging from McCarthy's belt.08/01/2015 - 7:34pm

Mattsworkname: You know what game is a lot of fun? rocket league. It' s a soccer game thats actually fun to play cause your A Freaking CAR!08/01/2015 - 7:02pm

Mattsworkname: Nomad colossus did a little video about it, showing the world and what can be explored in it's current form. It's worth a look, and he uses text for commentary as not to break the immerison08/01/2015 - 5:49pm

Mattsworkname: I feel some more mobility would have made it more interesting and I feel that a larger more diverse landscape with better graphiscs would help, but as a concept, it interests me08/01/2015 - 5:48pm

Andrew Eisen: Huh. I guess I'll have to check out a Let's Play to get a sense of the game.08/01/2015 - 5:47pm

Mattsworkname: It did, I found the idea of exploring a world at it's end, exploring the abandoned city of a disappeared alien race and the planets various knooks and crannies intriqued me.08/01/2015 - 5:46pm

Andrew Eisen: Did it appeal to you? If so, what did you find appealing?08/01/2015 - 5:43pm

Mattsworkname: Its an interesting concept, but it's not gonna appeal to everyone thats for sure,08/01/2015 - 5:40pm

Andrew Eisen: That sounds horrifically boring. Doesn't sound like an interesting use of its time dilation premise either. 08/01/2015 - 5:36pm

Mattsworkname: an observer , seeing this sorta frozen world and being able to explore without any restriction other then time. no enimes, no threats, just the chance to explore08/01/2015 - 5:34pm

Mattsworkname: Andrew: I meant lifeless planet, Time frame is an exploration game. Your dropped onto a world which is gonna be hit by a metor in 10 seconds, but due to time dilation ,you actually have ten minutes, so you can explore the world, in it's last moments, as08/01/2015 - 5:32pm